Current statistics say that over 3 billion people own a smart phone worldwide and there wouldn’t be too many people without one in Australia.
So how does this help with training videos?
Essentially the days of operations manuals and user manuals are long gone and with computers, tables and smart phones you can access videos on demand and that means training can be so much more efficient.
In no way are we suggesting the world doesn’t require people to train people, that’s an essential part of any training program, but using video to support those initial training procedures is also vital. Video offers a range of advantages over books, documents, or even trying to remember how to do something at the exact time you need to know (usually on site or whilst undertaking a procedure).
So, what are the advantages of training videos?
Firstly, when you create the training video you have the opportunity to show the procedure in exactly the way it should be carried out. This means you can ensure all safety aspects are taken care of and all procedures are done to the letter.
You can use a range of tools within a video to assist in the training aspect. This can include video footage, photos, animations, graphics, text on screen, voice over, even colour schemes, logos and icons to assist.
Within our multi-cultural society not everybody’s first language is English so there is the opportunity to have various language versions or sub-titles. Even that fact of just showing somebody how to do something in real time is still more effective than looking at a manual or just photos etc.
Some people within a team may suffer from reading difficulties and often they won’t make that known. Video can again assist here as it will show how to do something and it can be done without reading.
It’s also important to note that video is also very consistent. We have found in working with some larger companies where there may be various training staff, although they all show the same procedures, they many just do it in slightly different ways. The video will show the same procedure done in the exact same way every time.
Videos can be made to be accessible at any time, this could mean staff or team members can review procedures away from their duties or even whilst on site at a job. This is where those smart phones could come in very handy.
In some cases, training videos can be used to assist new staff as an introduction to a procedure. This can also assist by not requiring other staff to “sit-in” during the on-the-job training, instead have a new staff member simply watch a video. This again has more specific uses but for procedures such as how to use or answer the office phone system correctly is done much easier by having a new staff member watch a video rather than needing to take a current staff member away from their job to show the new staff member.
Video can also be used as part of the official training processes, supporting person to person training and can be especially useful when showing procedures that may be difficult to replicate in a classroom or training facility.
Videos are easily updated and can be kept current, certainly a whole lot easier than manuals and documents, especially where videos are accessible on-line or through an intranet.
So this next time you’re thinking about staff training or in fact any sort of training, think how you can use a video, maybe we can help you?
